The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-06-09
HUSIIING TIE TEMPEST.
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON AT THE
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.

Followers of Christ Must Not Always
Expect Smooth Sailing-The Church Is
Not injured by Observation-Disclosures
of the Late Rev. John Livingston.
BROOKLYN, June 5.-The Rev 4. De Witt
TalmaSe, D., preached in the Tabernacle
this morning a sermon entitled 1.-The
Tempest" Service began with the exposi-
tion Of appropriate passages of Scripture, af-
ter which the great congregation sang the |
hymn:
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my hOInen
The text was Mark iv, $685. describing |
Christ stilling the tempest. He said:
Iiberias Galee, Gcnnesaret-three names |
for the same Lake. No other gem ever had so
beautiful Il setting. IL lay in q scene OF great !
Insurance: the surrounding hills high, ter
raced, soped, groved, SO many hanging GAR
dens of beauty, the waters rumbling down
between rocks Of gray and red limestone,
flashing from the hills and bounding into the |
sea. On the shore were castles armed towers, |
Roman baths, everything attractive and |
beautiful; all styles of vegetation in shorter |
space than in almost any other space in all
the trees of rigorous climate.
1t seemed as if the Lord had launched one |
wave of beauty on all the scene, and it hung
and swung from rock and hill and oleander
Roman gentlemen in pleasure boats sailing
the lake, and countrymen in fish smacks com
ing down to drop their nets, pass each other
with nod and shout and laughter, or swinging
idly at their moorings Oh, what u wonder
ful, what beautiful lake!
1t seems as If we shall have quiet night
Not leaf winked in tho air; not ripple dis
turbed the face of Gennesaret; but there
seems to be little excitement up the beach,
and We hasten to see what it is. and we find il
an embarkation.
From the western shore flotilla push
ing out, not a squadron, or deadly armu-
ment, nor clipper with valuable merchandise,
nor piratic vessels ready to destroy every
thing they could seize but fotilla bearing
messengers of life and light and peace.
Christ is i'll the front of the boat His dis
ciples are in a smaller boat. Jesus, weary
with much speaking TO large multitudes, is
put into somnolence by the rocking of the
waves. If there was any motion at all the
ship was easily righted; if the wind passed
from starboard to larboard, or from larboard
TO starboard, the boat would rock, and by the
gentleness of the motion putting the Master
asleep And they extenporized pillow made
out of fisheTman's coat. | think no sooner
is Christ pFostrate, and his head touched the
pillow, than he is sound asleep. The breezes
of the lake run their fingers through the locks
of the worn sleeper, and the boat rises and
falls like sleeping child on the bosom of
sleeping mother.
Calm night, starry night, beautiful night.
Run up all the sails, ply all the oars, and let the
large boat and the small boat glide over
gentle Gennesaret But the sailors say there
is going to be change of weather. And
even the passengers can Lear the moaning Of
the storm. as it comes on with great stride,
and all the terrors of hurricane and darkness.
The large bout trembles like a deer at bay
among the clangor of the hounds; great
patches of foam are flung into the air; the
sails of the vessel loosen, and the sharp winds
era K like pistols; the smaller boats, like pc
trels, poise on the cliff Of the waves and then
plunge,
Overheard go cargo, tackling and masts.
and the drenched disciples rush into the back
part of the boat, and lay hold of Christ, and
say unto him: "Master, carest thou not
that we perishf' That great parsonage lifts
his head from the pillow of the fishelman's
coat walks to the front of the vessel, and
looEs out into the storm. All around him
are the smaller boats, driven in the tempest,
ard through it comes the cry of drowning
men By the flash of the lightning I see the
calm brow of Christ the spray dropped
from his beard. He has one word for the
sky and another for the waves. Looking up
ward he cries: Peace" Looking down
ward he says: "Be still"
The waves fall fat on their faces, the foam
melts, the extinguished stars relight their
ba fol1 nd tn,ict
stands with his feet on the neck of the storm.
And while the sailors are bailing out the
boats and while they are trying to untangle
the cortage the disciples stand in anazement,
now looking into the calm sea, then into the
calm sky, then into the calm SaviOur'5 coun-
senance and they cry out: "What manner
Of man is this, tHat even the winds and the
sea obey hing
The subject in the first place impresses me
with the facI that it is very important to
have Christ with the ship; for all those boats
would have gone TO the bottom of Gennesaret
il Christ had not been present. Oh, what a
lesson for you and for me to learnt We
must always have Christ in the ship What
ever voyage we undertake, into whatever ell
terprise we start let us always have Christ in
the slip. Many Of you in these days Of re-
gived commerce are starting out in new
financial enterprises. l bid you good cheer
Do all you caH do. Do it on as high a plane
As possible. You bave no right to be a stoker
I'm the ship if you can be an admiral of the
navy You have no right to be a colonel of
regiment if You can command q brigade;
you have no right TO be engineer of u boat on
river banks or near the coast if you can take
the ocean steamer from New York to Liver
pool. All you can do with utmost tension of
BODY mind and soul, you are bound TO do:
buS obi have Christ in every enterprise,
Christ in every voyage, Christ in every ship,
There are men here who ask God to help
them at the start of great enterprises. He
has been With them il the past; no trouble
can overthrow them; the storms might come
down from the top of Mount Hermon and
lash Gennesaret into foam and into agony,
but it could not hurt them.
But here is another man who starts out i'll
worldly enterprise and he depends upon the
uncertainties of this life. He has no God to
help him. After while the storm comes and
tosses oI the masts of the ship; be puts oui
his iifeboat and the long boat; the sheriff and
the auctioneer try TO help him off; they can't
help him of; he must so down; no Christ il
the ship. Here are young men just starting
out in life Your life will be made up OF sun
shine and shadow. There may be in it arc
tic blasts or tropical tornadoes; know no
what is before you, but know If you hay'
Christ with you all shall be well.
You may seem to get along without the re
ligion of Christ while everything goe
smoothly, but after awhile, when sorrow
hovers over the soul, when the waves of tria
dash clear over the hurricane deck and th
decks are crowded with piratical disasters
off. what would you do then withou
Chrisb in the ships Young man. take Co
for your portion, God for your guide, God 70
your help-then all is well; all is well 70
time: all shall! I've we'll forever. Blessed is tina
man who puts in the Lord his trust. He sha
never be confounded.
Eut my subject also inpfesses me with th